Are you going to run again? Why or why not? Do you think you affected the campaign?

I don’t know if I’m going to run again but if I do it’ll most likely be in 2010 which seems light years away.  If I run it’ll be as a democrat because I believe the Democratic Party listens more closely to the voice of the people.  I would run to bring back some of the Ann Richards-Molly Ivins spirit that the party seems to have lost with the loss of these two great voices.  I would hope to bring a large number of independents into the campaign as well.

As (cyclist) Lance Armstrong mentioned, there are a lot of reasons not to run these days.  There are, however, three good reasons why I would like to run.  They are: education, health care, and the death penalty.In my memory, the state of education in Texas has never been more pathetic.  Teaching to a test is not the same as teaching.  Indeed, it’s the very opposite.  We must say “Adios, mofo” to the TAKS test and put the teachers back in charge whatever it takes.  If I had four years, I believe I could do that.Health care coverage is also in the toilet in Texas.  As I’m typing this, little children are dying right here in Texas just because the politicians in Austin and Washington can’t get their act together. 

I don’t really believe any politician wants to see little children die because they’re not covered by health insurance.  They’re just so busy concentrating on party, power, and greed — not to mention getting re-elected — that they don’t have time to worry about it much.  Minnesota’s #1 in health care coverage; Texas is 50th.  Minnesota puts a surcharge on insurance companies and hospitals thereby creating a fund to pay health care costs for everyone.  Why doesn’t Texas?  We can afford it — not to mention paying our teachers; we’re the second-richest state in the whole country.Finally, there’s the death penalty.  Texas executes more people than all the other states put together.  If you’re a good Christian, Jew, or Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc. you know this is simply not our job. 

Besides, do you trust the same people who can’t run a post office to execute people in your name?  I no longer trust the government, folks, and neither do 89% of the American people.  If Texas abolishes the death penalty, the whole world will stand up and cheer for Texas and we’ll move to the head of the class in America—where we belong.  And if we’re so sure we’re not killing any innocent people, why don’t we have the courage to DNA death row?  I’m just asking these questions.  If I were governor, I promise you, the death penalty would be gone like the TAKS test and the Dodo Bird.  It’s time to lead the American parade.  It’s time to do the right thing.